| History (from
Wikipedia) |
|
Nachi was the second vessel completed of the four-member
My?k? class of heavy cruisers. Nachi was laid down at Kure Naval Arsenal
on 26 November 1924, launched and named on 15 June 1927, and was commissioned
on 26 November 1928.
In late 1941, Nachi was based at Mako Guard District in the Pescadores
Islands, and at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor My?k? and Nachi
formed Sentai-5 of the IJN 3rd Fleet. Sentai-5 was commanded by Rear Admiral
Takeo Takagi, and deployed from Palau to provide cover for the landings
of Japanese forces under "Operation M" — the invasion of the southern Philippine
Islands. After covering the landings of Japanese forces at Legaspi on 11
December 1941, My?k? and Nachi returned to Palau and were then reassigned
to Rear Admiral Raiz? Tanaka, whose attack force covered landings at Davao
on 19 December and Jolo on 24 December.
In January 1942, Nachi and Haguro covered the landings of Japanese
troops in the invasion of the Celebes in the Netherlands East Indies, followed
by the invasion of Ambon. In the Battle of the Java Sea, Nachi, Haguro
and Jints? participated in the destruction of the last remaining Allied
fleet units in the Netherlands East Indies. On 27 February, the reconnaissance
floatplanes from Nachi spotted the Allied fleet, enabling Haguro to sink
the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer and the cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java,
and damage HMS Exeter, and for the destroyer Asagumo to sink the destroyer
HMS Electra. On 1 March, Nachi and Haguro and their accompanying destroyers
spotted the damaged Exeter and sank her, together with destroyers HMS Encounter
and USS Pope. Nachi recovered over 90 Allied survivors, who were later
transferred to the destroyer Yamakaze, and landed in Makassar.
Later in March, Nachi received a refit at Sasebo for operations in
northern waters, and patrolled the Kurile Islands in April and May. On
26 May, Nachi departed from ?minato Guard District as flagship of Vice
Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya’s force for the invasion of the Aleutian islands,
and patrolled south of Attu, returning to ?minato on 23 June. She departed
?minato to escort another convoy to Kiska from 28 June, remaining in the
Aleutian Islands until 7 July. After a refit at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
from 14–30 July, Nachi was reassigned to the IJN 5th Fleet with Kiso and
Tama. She continued patrols of the Kurile Islands though March 1943, and
was sent as an escort for a reinforcement convoy to Attu from 7–10 March.
While escorting another convoy towards Attu on 26 March, Nachi spotted
an American force consisting of the cruisers USS Richmond and Salt Lake
City and destroyers Bailey, Dale, Monaghan and Coghlan. Vice Admiral Hosogaya
had the cruisers Maya, Tama, and Abukuma, in addition to two destroyers.
However, Maya was not carrying any aircraft, and Nachi had left one of
her three planes behind for repairs. Hosogaya ordered Nachi’s aircraft
to launch, but before they did so, he also ordered that the cruiser’s main
battery open fire. The aircraft on the starboard catapult was damaged by
the blast and had to be jettisoned. The remaining aircraft launched and
provided reconnaissance during the subsequent Battle of the Komandorski
Islands. Nachi launched her Type 93 “Long Lance” torpedoes at the American
task force, but failed to hit. In a four-hour gun battle, the Japanese
fleet damaged Salt Lake City and Bailey, but five shells hit Nachi, killed
fourteen crewmen, and Maya suffered damage to her No.1 gun turret. Hosogaya
abandoned the attempt to reinforce Attu, and was relieved of command in
disgrace.
Nachi was reassigned to Kure Naval District from 31 July 1944 and spent
the month of August in training. Her anti-aircraft defenses were updated
with an additional two twin-mount and twenty single mount Type 96 25-mm
autocannon, bringing her final total to 48 barrels in September. In October
1944, she was sent to the Philippines as part of a cruiser force under
the command of Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima. During the Battle of Leyte
Gulf from 24 October, Nachi and Ashigara were part of Vice Admiral Shoji
Nishimura’s force, which included the battleships Yamashiro, Fuso and the
cruiser Mogami. On 25 October, after the Battle of Surigao Strait, Nachi
and Mogami collided, resulting in severe damage to both vessels. Nachi
was forced to retire to Manila to repair damage to her bow.
While under repair at Manila on 29 October, Nachi and Kumano were attacked
by aircraft from USN Task Force 38. Nachi was hit by a single bomb to her
aircraft deck, and this, as well as strafing attacks, killed 53 crewmen
and further delayed repairs. On 5 November, again in Manila Bay, Nachi
was attacked by three waves of U.S. planes from the aircraft carriers USS
Lexington and Ticonderoga. She escaped the first wave undamaged, but was
hit by five bombs and two or three torpedoes in the second wave while attempting
to get underway. During the third wave, Nachi was hit by five torpedoes
in her port side, which severed her bow and stern, and by an additional
twenty bombs and 16 rockets.
Of the crew, 807 were lost, including the captain, while 220 survived
and were rescued by the destroyers Kasumi and Akebono. |
| The Kit |
|
| This is the Hasegawa My?k? class kit portraying the IJN
Nachi Heavy Cruiser in I believe a late war fit. My review sample is the
limited edition full hull version which appears to be a reboxing of a first
release kit supplemented with new parts. First impressions of the kit are
very good. Upon opening the box you can see several bags of parts made
up of several different media. The main bag consists of all the plastic
sprues to build the ship itself. In a second bag Hasegawa has provided
cast metal propellers, turned brass barrels for the main guns, a photo
etch fret, and a supplementary anti-aircraft/boat/aircraft sprue, and a
nameplate. Also included is a wood display base and full decals with markings
for Nachi and sister ships. |
| Sprue A |
|
| This sprue consists of the main deck piece, which is nicely molded
as one piece, and half of the main hull. The detailing on the parts is
nice and crisp and mostly in scale. On some of the deck pieces is a molded
on diamond tread pattern which would most likely not be visible in this
scale. |
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| Sprue B |
|
| This sprue contains the other half of the main hull, and the waterline
plate. |
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| Sprue C |
|
| This sprue contains the bulk of the parts for the ship; Superstructure
and anti-aircraft decks/platforms, funnels, yardarms, etc. The parts are
well cast and finely detailed. |
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|
|
| Sprue D (x2) |
|
| These sprues contain the main gun turrets, torpedo tubes and assorted
barrels, directors, and associated platforms. The detail is excellent and
the main guns seem to be proportionate. |
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|
|
| Sprue F |
|
| This sprue includes the rest of the main gun turrets, yardarm,
and bridge piece. As with the rest of the kits the detail is crisp and
looks to be in scale
|
| Sprue J |
|
| More superstructure bridge pieces, the main gun director, and crane
are on this sprue. Windows are finely cast and look excellent. |
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|
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| Sprue L |
|
| This is the main sprue included with the limited edition kits. This
is the lower hull and all of the running gear. Also included are the stands
to attach the kit to the display base. The propeller shafts and rudders
are finely cast and look true to scale. Normally 1/700 kits are only waterline,
so this is a welcome addition to provide the modeler with more options. |
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|
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| Sprue W (x2) |
|
| This is the supplementary aircraft, boat, and anti-aircraft sprue.
Not being ship specific it provides the modeler with lots of extras of
the smaller parts. The detailing is pretty good, especially on the aircraft
and boats. The barrels on the anti-aircraft guns seem slightly over scale,
but any smaller and they probably wouldn’t have survived the injection
molding process. |
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|
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| Photo Etch |
|
| This kit also includes and basic photo etch fret. While most times
kit included photo etch doesn’t do much for the modeler, this is a welcome
addition to the kit. It includes all of the main deck railings and parts
to replace catapults and cranes as well as some other assorted small bits
(the box art shows the built kit with the unpainted photo etch added) |
 |
| Other small parts |
|
| As mentioned before the kit also includes cast metal propellers, a
display base, and name plate. These are all excellent quality and will
help to make an out of the box build really pop. |
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|
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| Instructions and Decals |
|
| The instructions are printed on a two sided large sheet of paper that
is folded into quarters. The front gives a brief history of the ship and
includes the painting/marking diagrams. These are very clear and easy to
understand. The reverse side consists of the building steps. There is a
lot of information here in a small space, so it might be a little hard
to follow. Reading over the instructions several times before starting
the build is always a good idea. That being said I feel the instructions
are very good and progress the building in a logical manner. A supplemental
instruction sheet is included for the construction of the lower hull and
bending of the photo etch. |
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| Conclusion |
|
 All
in all this is a very good kit and will make an excellent addition to anyone’s
IJN fleet. The addition of photo etch and brass parts help to make this
an excellent display piece directly out of the box without the need to
purchase further aftermarket parts. Another bonus is you should end up
with spares of some of the smaller parts to add to your spares box to use
on other projects. I recommend this kit and hope Hasegawa continues providing
us with more excellent ship kits.
Thanks to Hobbico
(Great Planes) Model Distributors for the review sample. They are your
US distributors for Hasegawa. |
